MooreEnglish » Video

Motivation

Nathan — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:36:49 +0000

When I started watching this clip, I was thinking about the potential for motivating students. I think this video clip demonstrates the fallacy of Merit pay for teachers, particularly based on test scores. While it is true that teachers are a very autonomous bunch, we often don’t feel that way. I think many teachers feel bullied and micromanaged.

I’m still trying work out what this concept could mean for student motivation and appropriate curriculum design. Any ideas?

[Via Lifehacker]

Federal Funding Cuts Shut Down ESL Classroom

Nathan — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:03:46 +0000

My school’s Title I funds were slashed radically for the coming school year. We got the news yesterday. As a result my current school is no longer going to employ an ESL specialist. Things happened quickly and by the end of the day, I had a new job placement as a Special Education teacher at the school around the corner from where I have been working. My school is still trying to figure out how else to slash spending (and who else to surplus).

I’ve been going through various stages of grief. I’ve invested a lot into my identity as an ESL teacher and its a bitter pill to swallow. For years I have been worrying that very thing would happen, so it’s not unexpected but it is still not easy.

I am highly optimistic about my current school’s ability to survive without me and, in fact, without any ESL specialists at all. Still, I feel like there should be some legal or moral obligation to have more than one dedicated ESL specialist for a school with a population of 5oo+ English language learners (ELL).

I do realize that I’m blessed. I have an opportunity to start something new at a new school. I still have a job and a paycheck. I have a home and my family. God loves me and has given me much more than I deserve.

Side note: Yesterday I got a bunch of the school’s UALPA (Utah Academic Language Proficiency Assessment) results back from the state office of education. I haven’t had to time to analyze it yet, but it looks as though we (they?) made massive growth this year.

Police State Pete

Nathan — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:11:03 +0000

I was introduced to Dogboy and Mr. Dan last Saturday at my state party convention.

Destinos: A Soap for Learning Spanish

Nathan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:58:42 +0000

My formal Spanish training came through an intense summer course, in which we used Destinos as our text. I took the course more than 10 years ago and at least 4 years before I actually needed to use Spanish for anything. Destinos uses the drama to teach vocabulary and gradually transition viewers from English to Spanish. I just discovered that its all online for free. Perhaps I’ll watch it again sometime.

Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish

Voice of America

Nathan — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The Voice of America has excellent programming for English language learners in Special English which is English with a restricted vocabulary. As far as I know, all VOA Special English content is available at the site, so you can see video, listen to radio, or read the transcripts. It seems like it would be an excellent resource for both adult and teen learners of English as a second language (ESL).

The VOA website also has content in dozens of other languages, including common languages like French, Hindi, and Russian, as well as less commonly spoken languages such as Kirundi, Khmer, and Croatian.